


Deus Ex Machina

by Echovous



Series: Iron Legacies [3]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Dark Ages, Death Threats, Gen, Near Death Experiences, On the Run, Pre-City Age, Threats of Violence, Warlords, Warmind Vaults, Warsats crushing Guardians, ex-warlords, territorial Risen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-31 18:17:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21150101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Echovous/pseuds/Echovous
Summary: “I’ll kill all of you,” Felwinter spat Russian back at the rogues, clutching his shotgun tighter.More laughter from outside.“Yeah, good luck with that. There’s five of us and only one of you!”





	Deus Ex Machina

Laughter and thrilled shrieks echoed behind Felwinter as he tore through the frozen undergrowth. 

He risked a glance over his shoulder before returning his eyes forward. Ever since his split with Citan, he'd been expecting an assassin to be sent to kill him, but these Risen weren’t assassins. They were loners, rogues. Risen with no loyalty or allegiance to anyone but themselves. Roaming the wilds like a wild pack, going wherever and doing whatever they pleased. They weren’t after him for payment. They weren’t after him for revenge. They weren’t after him because of the Warlord sigils that still adorned his armor, claiming him as Citan’s. They were after him simply because they'd caught sight of him, and now that they had, they wanted to kill him. 

Felwinter cut into a frozen passage that cut through the high stone by the shore. The snow was more manageable in the passage. The tall ridges acted as shields when the storms came, allowing him to keep his quick pace without a struggle. Felwinter's boots thumped against the ice as he pushed himself further. He could still hear the Risen behind him, howling like animals, as he left the passage and exited out into a raised, rocky clearing overlooking the shore. He spun on his heel and darted towards the edge of the rocks.

There was an open door built into the rock face. Felwinter had to move before the other Risen caught up to him. He rushed into the open bunker, kicking snow in along with him. He spun around, shotgun ready and fully prepared to shoot at the pack of Risen when they jumped down. But he didn’t have to. The walls clicked and the bunker door began to close. Each section of the diamond folding down and locking tightly into place. Plunging the room into darkness. A moment later, the lights flashed on, and Felwinter tilted his head to the wall to shield his synthetic eyes. 

Felwinter peeked around his shoulder, staring down the empty hall now which lead further into the bunker, now illuminated by the then at the door where the Risen waited, hungry for a fight. He had no idea which direction the enemy would come from first. All Felwinter could do was huddle against the wall, twitching from both the cold and anticipation as he listened to the heavy footfalls of the Risen approaching the vault door. Snow crunching beneath their boots as they approached the vault door. 

“Where did he go?” A husky voice sounded. He spoke fluent Russian. Not uncommon for the area.

“He had to have gone in here,” a different voice answered from right outside the vault door. 

“No way,” another voice, a woman’s, argued. “That door never opens.”

There was silence for a moment. A few more whispers, then more silence. The crunching of snow, marking the footsteps of the Risen as they approached the vault door.

“Nowhere left to go, Exo,” one of the Risen raised his voice to be heard. “It would be smart to open up.”

“Can’t stay in there forever,” a second voice added. “Either you come out or we come in!” 

“And we have no problem coming in!” 

“I’ll kill all of you,” Felwinter spat Russian back at the rogues, clutching his shotgun tighter.

More laughter from outside. 

“Yeah, good luck with that. There’s five of us and only one of you!”

“And your Void devilry doesn’t scare us!” 

Felwinter remained silent, refusing to give another response. He's told the Risen what would happen if they broke in. He wouldn't hesitate to kill all of them, he was fully capable of taking them all on. 

“Come on! Open the door, handsome! We just want to play awhile!” A different man’s knuckles rapped against the vault door. The others snickered. 

Felwinter stiffened.'

"Aw... I don't think he's going to come out on his own," the woman spoke with mock sadness. "Might need a little coaxing..." 

A brief pause, then the first man lowered his voice. “Get a bomb. We blow a hole in and drag him out.” 

“If you come through that door, I’ll kill all of you,” Felwinter snapped again. 

“He’s so feisty, I love it!” One of the men laughed. “Feisty ones are always the fun ones.” 

The snow crunched outside the door as the group began to undoubtedly prepare their explosives. 

“I call killing him first,” one called out. 

“No fair, I was the one who saw him!”

“We ALL saw him!” 

“I still call the first kill!” 

“As long as I get to kill him second!” 

“If that’s how we’re doing it, I want to kill him last! Give him something to remember!” 

Felwinter listened as they argued the order in which they’d kill him. A sudden realization hit him: They don’t know about final death. They’re completely clueless. 

Felwinter would’ve laughed if his current situation wasn’t so grim. These Risen still live under the false notion that they’re invincible. They’re too blind, too dull, to know how to permanently kill Risen. It almost brought relief to Felwinter. Almost. Their lack of knowledge on final death meant that he wouldn’t permanently die, but it also mean that if the Risen break in and get the upper hand, they’ll kill him over and over again. He’ll be at their mercy. In some way, that might be worse than a final death.

He wouldn’t let that happen. 

The arguing between the rogues grew louder. They began to drown each other’s voices out until they sounded like one sound. No. The sound wasn't from them, it couldn't be. The sound was starting to drown out their voices and shake the ground. Felwinter raised his head to listen, quickly realizing that the deafening sound was coming from the sky. Felwinter shrunk against the wall, his eyes watching the roof in terror. The wall that he leaned on began to shake and the plating on the floor rattled. 

“M-meteors!? RUN!” 

Something smashed into the ground outside the vault door. The floor shook hard enough to knock Felwinter in the air. He came down hard, twinging his shoulder. 

All sound disappeared. The people outside were either severely injured or dead but would be approaching the latter soon. He got to his feet hesitantly, listening to the silence, only able to wonder what the hell that was and how lucky he was to be in here and not out there...

“What the hell was that?!” The rogue Risen began to awake from death, brought back to life by their Ghosts.

“W-Where did it come from?!”

“It fell from the sky! 

“We were hit by a satellite!”

The group broke into unintelligible screaming. 

“We gotta get outta here!”

“No wait, we can’t just leave!”

“Forget the Exo, forget the loot. We have to go!” 

“Yeah, I’m definitely not sticking around!” 

“But we can’t—“

“Stay and die if you want, I’m leaving too!” 

“W-wait up, don’t leave me here! I’m coming!” 

Once they were long gone, Felwinter's Ghost flashed into view. The light of its singular optic scanned him thoroughly. Felwinter let him, unable to stop him if he didn't want to be scanned. He was still energized from the encounter. He could still feel the fluid pumping in his veins and his pulse racing. Felwinter rolled, bringing his knees beneath him, and tried to use his left arm to push himself off the floor. His arm gave out, and he collapsed. 

He groaned, trying to get up again. 

“Don’t. It’s dislocated,” Felwinter’s Ghost warned. 

Felwinter collapsed again, this time, allowing his fall to pop the joint back into place.

His Ghost released an irritated sound. “You just love not listening to me, do you?" The Ghost quickly changed the conversation. He vanished only to appear above his shoulder. “I don’t think we’re the only ones down here.” 

Felwinter’s head snapped backward, locating his shotgun, which had flown from his hands. He slid towards it and pulled the bronze weapon into his hands and pointed it down the path of the bunker. Faint music had begun to play from deep inside the Vault. It gradually began to grow in volume, echoing off the old walls. The music sounded relaxing with a welcoming tone to it. 

“Gah!” His Ghost released a pained grunt. “I-is the music doing that?!” 

“Doing what?” Felwinter’s eyes shot over to his Ghost. 

The off-white drone twitched in discomfort. “I don’t know. It hurts...” He groaned again. 

Felwinter began to feel it too. It started as a dull ache before morphing into a stabbing pain, like a needle, at the back of his head. It felt like something was trying to dig into his head but that it obviously wasn't working. He gritted against the pain. It was like nothing he’d ever experienced before, but still, it felt so familiar as though, in a past life, his body remembered this feeling. However, just as quickly as the pain began, it ended, leaving Felwinter and his Ghost in silence. 

After a long while, he heard a click within the walls and turned just in time to see the vault door slide open. 

Felwinter looked down the bunker one last time before leaving, just to see if anyone was standing there. But he was the only one.


End file.
